mirroring to TV.

[louisejersey]

Hi, I would be grateful for advice please. At the moment I have a VPN on my laptop and on my ipad to watch British TV.
I was thinking of buying a TV, and Mirroring from the laptop, although I would rather not have the laptop tied up all the time.
Can anyone advice the simplest (I haven't got a clue) and cheapest way of doing this. I was wondering if it would be feasible to buy a cheap Tablet, set the VPN up on that to use???
Or something else? If using the laptop is the best way, would I need a cable, and if so what sort? thanks in advance.

[Tim]

Hi Louise

I'm something of a technophobe, but I think the easiest way would be to buy an Amazon Firestick which would connect your tv direct to your router wirelessly and cut the laptop out of the system altogether. Alternatively you can connect your tv to your laptop via an HDMI cable. I'm sure someone more tech-savvy will fill you in on the details.

Hope this helps

Tim

[louisejersey]

You can't be more of a technophobe than me Tim. Thanks for the advice, but I don't knowif the firestick would have the VPN on it? I need this to watch TV. I have paid for it for a year, and use it on my i pad as well as the laptop.?

[Kilkis]

Basically Amazon Firestick is an Android device. Many companies who sell VPN services offer an Android App so you can use their service from an Android device. If the company you use to provide your VPN has such an App then it should be possible to install it on a Firestick. If you put "VPN on Firestick" into Google and or YouTube you will find lots of advice. Your VPN company may also have an help article.

Warwick

[SatCure]

The iPad can be connected to the TV with a suitable lead. I recall that Graham Cook demonstrated it at "Cretan Corner" Taverna, shortly before he retired. Also, I have friends in Paleiloni who uses an iPad connected to their TV to watch UK TV.

So, if you don't mind "tying up" the iPad, that might be the way to go.

[Kilkis]

It needs a special adapter, e.g. see these. There are versions for both the lightning and 30 pin versions of the iPad plug.

Warwick

[SatCure]

Thanks, Warwick.

(Obviously the TV must have an HDMI input socket.)

[YoMo2]

Is it actually an iPad though? So many people refer to any tablet as an iPad. Ditto iPhone for any smartphone......

If it's not an iPad, different connectors?

Just wondering. Not meaning to be insulting.

Andrew

[Kilkis]

You can get adapters for other tablets but not necessarily all. I have an older Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 with the wide connector. There used to be an adapter for that but it seems to be no longer available. They exist for the later Galaxy phones and tablets with the smaller connector so I could mirror my Galaxy S4 phone with one if I needed to. Also many newer TVs have built in WiFi so you can mirror using WiFi direct.

Warwick

[louisejersey]

As always, thanks for your help folks. I have been in touch with my VPN provider, and the chromecast/ firestick idea is a no go.
So I am going to try the I pad Lead. (No offense taken Andrew, it is a proper I pad mini. )
Grateful for this advice, as when I looked on google it lead me to believe that I needed Apple TV.
Will also get a HDM1 lead so that I can use the laptop's DVD player to Mirror to the TV.
Thanks again. xx

[Jeffstclair]

I have a satellite connection with a 40 gig cap .. I live steam a bit of radio 4 in the the morning. .. When you live stream TV from the UK on a normal line line connection ,does it burn masses of bandwidth/gigs does it buffer ? I've never tried it .. if there is some thing I want to watch I download at night when the cap is lifted ...

[Kilkis]

... When you live stream TV from the UK on a normal line line connection ,does it burn masses of bandwidth/gigs does it buffer ? I've never tried it ...

It doesn't matter how much it downloads on a landline broadband as it is not capped. Whether it buffers or not depends on the speed of the connection. 3 Mbps should stream SD without any significant buffering. You might need 5 Mbps for HD. Some people have more than this some have less. I've got a little over 10 Mbps and have no problem.

Warwick

[Jeffstclair]

Oh thanks for that , so if I wanted to view TV live I could I think we get about 26Mbps ..I could use it and watch TV all night....

[Kilkis]

26 Mbps is pretty high for Crete? Presumably you have the 30 Mbps or 50 Mbps DSL service rather than the 24 Mbps ADSL service? I can't get that where I am but I probably wouldn't bother if it were to become available as I am happy with speed I get now.

You are not using one of the combination routers that have both a landline connection and a 4G SIM are you? Some people are using those because the landline is so poor. They give high speed through the SIM but that IS capped so watching TV all night would soon use up your data allowance. If you get 26 Mbps purely through the landline then you can watch as much TV as you like.

Warwick

[STEVE.W]

A friend who just came over from the UK brought me Amazon's Alexa (Google it - Echo Dot) as a Christmas present, I have to say, for playing UK radio, it's fantastic and responds in a nano second. I use a Greek IP and have no problems accessing UK radio including the BBC. In addition to the radio, Alexa has numerous other skills as they are called which you can Google to find out, I find it great for reminders etc, shopping lists and numerous other skills. Everyone who has an Amazon account also has access to Amazon My Music, you can upload 250 of your favourite tracks for free which would be an average of around 16 hours worth of playtime, organise into playlists such as 60's, 70's, easy listening, whatever you want to call a playlist and then just say to Alexa "Alexa, play playlist easy listening" and away you go, just say "shuffle" and it will shuffle the music. You can link it to home automation, eg, switch lights on & off amongst other things but need "smart" bulbs for this. For £50, it's quite an amazing bit of kit and I can recommend it to anyone as Amazon are 2 years ahead of the same thing from Google or Apple. I've only been messing about with it on and off for the last 2 weeks and am still discovering an ever expanding set of skills it will perform. Unfortunately, it won't wash the dishes.....yet LOL. A.I. The future I guess.